Cop in Korean’s kidnap-slay a fall guy?

MANILA, Philippines - Is Senior Police Officer 3 Ricky Sta. Isabel a “fall guy” in the kidnapping and killing of South Korean businessman Jee Ick-joo?

Justice Secretary Vitaliano Aguirre II said the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) is looking into this possibility after several higher ranking Philippine National Police (PNP) officials were implicated in the controversial kidnapping for ransom with homicide case.

PNP chief Director General Ronald dela Rosa said he talked to Sta. Isabel on Sunday to get his side on the incident.

“He told his story but I was not satisfied because it was all self-defense, all alibi,” he said.

Sta. Isabel has been held at the PNP Custodial Center since the NBI turned him over to police custody last Friday.

Aguirre said Sta. Isabel and his wife Jinky have submitted to the NBI several pieces of evidence supposedly proving that the policeman took no part in the kidnapping and killing of Jee in October last year and that he was only used to cover up for the crimes.

“Based on his (Sta. Isabel’s) statement, he was only framed and had nothing to do with the killing of Jee,” the Department of Justice (DOJ) chief said in a phone interview.

Aguirre said among the pieces of evidence submitted by Sta. Isabel was a receipt from a bookstore issued at the time Jee was kidnapped from his house in Angeles City, Pampanga.

The policeman claimed he was at the bookstore in Metro Manila accompanying the child of his superior, PNP Anti-Illegal Drugs Group - Pampanga (AIDG) head Superintendent Raphael Dumlao, when the kidnapping happened on Oct. 18, 2016.

The DOJ chief bared that Sta. Isabel’s wife also met with him and claimed that Dumlao and PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group head Senior Superintendent Glenn Dumlao asked her to convince her husband to just follow the supposed “script” in Jee’s case.

Jinky also claimed that the AIDG official even called her saying they were planning to tag another policeman in the crime and they would all be spared later on.

She has already submitted to the NBI a recording of her phone conversation with Dumlao, according to Aguirre.

Planted?

Aguirre said Jinky also showed him photo grabs from a closed-circuit television footage proving that the Toyota Hilux used in the surveillance and actual kidnapping of Jee was not hers.

“She submitted proof supporting her husband’s defense, particularly a CCTV footage showing two identical Hilux units with the same license plate number and color but (with) a few differences,” he explained.

Jinky also submitted to the NBI CCTV videos showing the alleged visits by Rafael Dumlao and Senior Superintendent Allan Macapagal of the PNP Anti-Kidnapping Group to their house.

“If this evidence is true, then this was a well-planned operation,” he stressed.

Aguirre also raised questions on PNP’s sudden discovery of Jee’s golf clubs from the funeral parlor where he was reportedly cremated.

“According to the NBI, they already searched that funeral parlor and did not find anything there. The following day when the policemen went there, the golf set suddenly appeared,” he pointed out.

Asked if he believes the golf set could have been planted by the policemen who inspected the funeral parlor, the DOJ chief said this possibly has cropped up based on the statement of NBI agents, which was corroborated by workers in the said funeral parlor.

Aguirre confirmed that the two Dumlaos of the PNP are now covered by the NBI probe following the submission of evidence by Sta. Isabel and his wife. Glenn Dumlao was implicated in the 2000 killing of publicist Salvador “Bubby” Dacer and driver Emmanuel Corbito, but later on cleared by the Court of Appeals after years in hiding.

He added that Sta. Isabel’s wife and their family would be secured by the NBI due to “very serious threats” against them.

Credibility

The DOJ chief also hinted on the semblance of credibility in statements of Sta. Isabel, including his claim that he was ordered by his superior to kill Jee’s househelp Marisa Morquicho.

“If you think about it, if he (Sta. Isabel) is really the killer, why would he free someone who could identify him and testify against him. That would be stupid,” he stressed.

“That’s why we really have to look into this angle that he is just a fall guy,” Aguirre added. – With Cecille Suerte Felipe